While we were there, we had our weapons and armor repaired and decided to rest a bit while waiting. Laurenna wanted to see what the merchants had for sale, although she didn't see anything she wanted to buy.

After advising the merchant that we had found part of his missing pack guar, and that the dragon had been killed, we decided it was late, and that we should head back to Ald'ruhn for the night.

Just as we were getting ready to leave, Laurenna noticed that the sky had turned a dusky red color. "What is that?" she asked.

"Oh, that's just another ash storm." replied one of the guards. "They come in at random intervals, but you shouldn't be out in them for long. Sometimes they bring blight, and you don't want to catch a blight disease."

We said our goodbyes to the guards, grateful that they didn't have to be the ones that had to slay a dragon that day.

It was only a short distance to the back gate of Ald'ruhn, but during an ashstorm, it seemed like it took forever, with the wind pushing against us at every instance.

We arrived in Ald'ruhn without incident. "Should we stay at the inn?" she asked. "Oh, heavens, no." I replied, "I'm head of the Mage's guild, let's stay there for the night, and you can show me your new gown."

Laurenna smiled, glad to hear we could be out of this ashstorm quickly.

"This stuff is making a mess of my hair!!" she said.

We went to the Mage's Guild offices, and went down stairs to the lower levels. There, we found one of the two spare rooms for members of the guild to use.

Laurenna tried on her new outfit.

Hubba hubba.

"Do you like it?" she asked.

"It looks much better on you than it would on me!"
I joked.

"Oh, you old dragon-slayer, you! Come here." she said.

After a busy night of swapping war stories (no, that's what we were doing, really!!!), we both got up early, around 6am, and decided it was time to head back to Balmora.

"Listen," I said, "You can use the mage's teleportion to get to Balmora, but I need to stop off in Caldera first. I must speak with Illwing about the dragon, and the fact that it wouldn't tell me why they have come back to Morrowind."

"Ok," she said, "if you're not going to take long, why don't I meet you in the mage's guild in Balmora?"

I agreed. We went to the teleporter lady, and Laurenna vanished in a puff of smoke.

When it was my turn, I told her I needed to go to Caldera first.

When I opened my eyes, that's where I was.

I headed outside, past where my cottage USEDto be, and entered Shenk's Shovel, the local inn where Illwing was staying.

"So, Akhekhu didn't tell you anything, did he? Hmmm, that's disturbing." Illwing furrowed his brow. "There is another possibility." he said. "What might that be?" I asked. Illwing measured his words carefully, then spoke, "It's possible they are reproducing, and that worries me. If the battle went as hard as you describe with just one dragon, imagine lots of them at one time."

The idea didn't set well with me. That battle was hard enough without complications getting in the way.

I had saved the dragon's heart and showed it to him. "That artifact may have powerful abilities." he said. "If you have an alchemy lab, you should save it there. Oh, I heard from a traveler that another dragon was seen near Balmora."

I agreed, and thanked him for his time. I used the castle spellscroll to return to Solstheim Castle and made my way to the lab.

It was odd, looking at this powerful thing that just a short time ago powered a huge monster.

I gave Felicia instructions to make sure things were left undisturbed, then used my own house ring to teleport to Balmora.

As I arrived in Balmora, it was raining, overcast, and generally miserable weather. I started to make my way to the bridge over the Odai River and then the Mage's Guild offices, when I suddenly heard people screaming, shouting, and pointing to the sky.

I peered through the clouds, and could not believe what I was seeing. It was the outline of a flying creature, but definitely not a cliffracer.

As it drew near, guards started drawing their weapons, parents grabbed their children and took them indoors.

It was another dragon. Aside from the same red wings as the other one had, this one had a definate greenish color to it's scales.

The dragon hovered over the river for a moment, as if to seek out something .... tasty.

Then, with a blast from it's mouth, one of the unlucky guards found himself engulfed in fire.

Before he could fall, the dragon flew down, and ate him whole!

Guards were everywhere now, trying to shoot at this green dragon with arrows, and having no effect on the beast.

It blasted yet another guard with fire and as he was roasted alive, the dragon, appearing to be amused by all the attention, again, flew down and swallowed him whole.

It seemed as if nothing affected this creature, at least not arrows, anyway.

I took a chance and gave it a blast of the God's Fire spell. I wasn't sure it would be a good idea to do battle here in the city. The guards could mistake my summoned warriors as evil, and attack both them and me.

The spell seemed to work, however, and the dragon, it's appetite apparently satisfied, flew off into the rain clouds.